Mark Bittman's Recipe Charts: What Do You Think?

In between articles on soda taxes and sustainable farming in his new Opinion column, Mark Bittman has still been sneaking in a few recipes for us to clip and save. But a few of these recipes look a little...different. Less like recipes and more like...reference charts. Have you noticed this, and if so, what do you think of this recipe format?

Bittman actually refers to this as "matrix" cooking, referring to a four-square grid with one basic recipe, two variations, and pictures to illustrate. The idea is that you can get a hankering a certain kind of soup - say a creamy one or a very hearty one - and then simply refer to the chart to make it. You don't need a specific recipe, you just need the basic technique.

In a recent interview on Good Food, Bittman explained that he'd been trying to make this concept work for his Minimalist column, but just couldn't find a way to do it. With the move to The New York Times Magazine with his recipe columns, he was able to work with the design team to develop the visual matrix model.

Personally, we really like this method of recipe writing. It's flexible and easy to use, and it feels like a natural evolution of his recipe style in How to Cook Everything. Evan Kleiman of Good Food also points out during her interview with Bittman that this is the way that professional chefs think about cooking.

So far Bittman has done two of these types of columns, one on soups and one on white fish. Take a look!

Emma is the recipe editor for The Kitchn and a graduate of the Cambridge School for Culinary Arts. She is the author of True Brews and Brew Better Beer (Spring 2015). Check out her personal blog for more cooking stories.